Collinsworth on Favre: It's not over

Just got off an NBC teleconference with Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth, who make their official debut as NBCs Sunday Night Football's NFL announcing team with the Hall of Fame Game in Canton (Buffalo plays Tennessee) on Sunday night.

They were on the call for about 50 minutes and lots of interesting topics were covered. Unfortunately, I couldn't get in my question about the Eagles, specifically about the impact Jimmy Johnson's passing would have on the defense.

But both had interesting things to say, especially Collinsworth who has the potential to be much more controversial than the guy he is replacing, the legendary John Madden.

Among the things I highlighted were:

* Collinsworth believes the Brett Favre saga isn't over.

"I don't think its over. I know what happens during an NFL season. You have back-up quarterbacks that certainly aren't of the quality of the starting quarterbacks and you have a team that gets off to a hot start and something happens to their star quarterback and they're sitting there at 6-1 looking at the prospect of playing with somebody who loses two or three games. I promise you someone is going to bring up Brett Favre's name. It may be over for right now, it may be over in Minnesota, but I promise you his name will be back in the headlines before this season is up."

Michaels chimed in by saying: "They should bring in Regis Philbin and have him ask Brett -- "Is this your final answer? Who in the world knows."

** Collinsworth believes all of the big-name coaches being without jobs is not a coincidence.

"There’s no question there are great coaches sitting on the sidelines for this season, but remember we’ve got labor issues coming up. I don’t know what’s going on, but there is a glut of superstar coaches not in the game right now and it’s going to be a very interesting season to see how the young coaches come in and handle the complex issues of dealing with everything there is with being a head coach. Coaching these days has so little to do with Xs and Os. It's about managing people. You're seeing it in Denver first and foremost. That's going to be one of most interesting storylines this year.

" Mike Shanahan is going around to other training camps and staying sharp. He's playing golf, watching tape and gaining a different perspective. This is a huge business, a multi-billion dollar business and when things get settled, people are going to try the best they can to win. So Shanahan will be back, With Jon Gruden and Bill Cowher, who knows? They've found that broadcasting isn’t a bad life. It'll be interesting to see how anxious they are to get back into it."

*** On John Madden's departure from the booth, Collinsworth was quite articulate in calling it the end of an era:

"I do consider it the end of the era. Sometimes when you're in the middle of something, you don't realize the significance of it. The treasure that was John Madden's career will be remembered for a long, long time. He'll be remembered for the intelligent coaching conversation he brought to the air, but also for making it fun. I can't tell you how many people have come up to me and want me to tell John thanks and how much he meant to them and their lives on Sunday afternoons and Sunday and Monday nights. He was a part of the family, somebody who was treasured,

"I was at the Smithsonian Institution with my wife and our kids and my wife said they should put the John Madden bus in here. And they should. When he'd take it around the country, fans couldn’t wait to touch it and be a part of it. It became something bigger than life.

"I don't want to let this moment pass without understanding the significance of his contributions to American culture. He had a personal relationship with the American people. I intend to bring John's name on the broadcasts often. I want that legacy to continue because he meant a lot to me."

Michaels also had some very nice things to say about Madden as well and said he will miss him, but was much less poetic. Michaels said it will be a seamless transition for the NFL's new lead team.

"Nothing lasts forever," he said. "A fabulous period of time is over and we’re going to start another one."

And finally, Collinsworth said the Jets should be careful not to throw Mark Sanchez to the wolves:

"I hope their [Jets] defense is really good and they can run the football. I haven’t seen that many people come into this league and have a big impact. Last year a couple of young quarterbacks, Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco, came in and did have a good impact. But if you break it down further, you'll see Flacco played on a team with one of the best defenses in football. And Ryan had Michael Turner, who was a big difference-maker in Atlanta. Add in dealing with the media and everything else that goes on in New York, and we'll see if he's their guy when they come out. It's a burden to take over any team as a rookie, but to take over in New York with those expecations is going to be especially hard. And you have to be careful with young quarterbacks in this league. If they take a step back, it's hard to get them back on the field as we're seeing with Vince Young with the Titans."